Lansing school audit results in an additional $106k

The Lansing School Board will be conducting a public hearing at the beginning of its June 10 meeting to allow the district to republish its 2012-2013 budget.

Tim Linn

The Lansing School Board will be conducting a public hearing at the beginning of its June 10 meeting to allow the district to republish its 2012-2013 budget.

The amendment follows the results of the annual audit by the Kansas State Department of Education of the district's enrollment and means the district will receive more than $100,000 in additional state funding.

The KSDE audit found that the district actually had 2,576 students enrolled as of the Sept. 20 audit date, 26 more than the 2,550 that the district had budgeted for. The audit also found that the district had more students considered “at-risk” than previously budgeted for. At-risk is one of several statuses that determine “weightings” given to total enrollment. The weighted enrollment is what the state uses in its funding formula. As a result of the audit, the district's weighted enrollment rose from 3,576 to 3,604. School Superintendent Randy Bagby said in years past he would purposefully write the annual budget using more conservative estimates.

“We underbudgeted and then republished and what that would do is save local taxpayers' money,” because the difference would be made up with state funds, he said.

But in recent years, Bagby said the state had cut education spending in the middle of the fiscal year, meaning those districts that underbudget could be left short of state aid.

“The audit came in a little bit to our surprise,” Bagby said.

The most noticeable result of the audit is that the district will receive an additional $106,313 from the state that will be plugged into the school's general fund, from which the district pays its employees salaries, Bagby said. But with the fiscal year for the school ending in July and the following fiscal year not beginning until August, he said the main benefit of the extra state aid will be the ability to fund district operations on an interim basis.

“For cash balances,” which is how the district pays its bills for about a month, he said, “that really helps.”

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